Archived News 2002-2000
New Business
PDM would like to take this opportunity
to wish all its clients the very best for Christmas and the New Year.
2002 has been an interesting year at PDM. In addition to keeping up with
demand for its established products - harness assemblies, connectors and
encapsulation services, the company has been developing new products. First
to be available is the new Field Jointing System. This is a compact piece
of equipment which enables polyethylene cables to be repaired in the field.
It was developed in response to a specific submarine requirement. A product
brochure for this system is available on request. Other new products becoming
available in 2003 include the PDM range of fibre optic connectors.
In addition to the above PDM has been expanding its design and development
activities for clients. It has carried out several projects during the year
for MOD applications. These have drawn heavily on PDM's broad experience
of producing equipment for the underwater environment and their specialised
knowledge of elastomers. Much of the skill required for these projects cannot
be extracted from data sheets or other sources of information, but is based
on nearly 20 years of working with these materials in subsea applications.
2002 has also seen an intensification of PDM's marketing activities in Europe.
The PDM corporate brochure is now available in French, German, Norwegian
and Italian and this web site contains pages in these languages plus Spanish
and Portuguese. This work and personal contacts, has resulted in new valuable
business from Europe. This has included a new connector design project where
the non-magnetic characteristics of the connector are of utmost importance
and cable assemblies for a customer within the military market.
PDM has been present at the major exhibitions this year including ONS Stavanger
and UUVS and this presence underpins its resolve to give clients good service
and support - a feature lacking in many businesses today.
It is said that no business can stand still. Moving forward with new products
and markets has certainly been the key to PDM's success in 2002.
Thales Pre-amp Encapsulation
PDM has encapsulated a number of active
and passive devices for clients. The latest project involved the vacuum
encapsulation of a small pre-amp assembly for Thales. This unit is part of
a submarine antenna system. Two types of unit have been produced and the
encapsulant used is an epoxy. A pilot batch was encapsulated to establish
the viability of the process and to identify any refinements required. Following
moulding optimisation, the project moved to the production phase. The precise
performance specification for the unit cannot be discussed, however the
production units are consistently performing to requirement. New design options
are now being considered which will improve operational factors.
It is often assumed that encapsulation of active devices simply involves
designing a mould and pouring in the encapsulant. In fact there is much more
involved. First the assembly must be assessed to ensure it is suitable for
encapsulation. Certain items are unsuitable such as air filled or open element
trim components (potentiometers etc). In these cases the component may well
fail to function after encapsulation. Also, if components are very fragile
and a hard encapsulant is used, shrinkage stresses may result in component
failure.
Other factors which may be critical apply to the function of the circuit.
For example, as the dielectric constant of the encapsulant is greater than
air (about 3 for polyurethanes), stray capacitance may increase substantially
which in turn may affect circuit performance.
The adhesion properties of the encapsulant to the substrate and components
is also important - particularly at external interfaces of the moulding.
In some cases special primers may be required to improve adhesion. The flow
of the encapsulant inside the mould must also be considered to ensure complete
moulding integrity.
To deal with these issues PDM works closely with the client during the initial
evaluation. A pilot batch will then precede the production order to identify
and resolve any outstanding issues.
European Market
In response to the developing market
in Europe, PDM has appointed Anders Hill as PDM European Sales
Co-ordinator.
Anders comes to PDM with a strong background in Sales and Marketing, European
experience and a working knowledge of French. In his previous position he
worked in a project liaison and sales capacity for a supplier of industrial
equipment. His role was to speak directly to clients and assist them in defining
their precise requirement. The role continued through the supply process
to ensure customer satisfaction.
PDM wishes to expand its activities in Europe, building on existing contacts
and developing new markets. Anders will be actively pursuing these aims by
contacting potential clients and by visiting them at their preferred location.
Anders visits major exhibitions and can meet clients at these sites if required.
He will be at Offshore Europe (Aberdeen), Oceanology International (Docklands)
and Sea Mer exhibitions. Anders will draw on his experience to assist customers
in specifying their needs.
To communicate this message PDM is currently producing a Corporate Brochure
in French and this will be followed by other European publications.
In Europe, PDM will be marketing underwater connectors, bend control products,
the Quickcure Moulding System and specialised moulding and encapsulation
services. For more information on any of these items please contact Anders
who will be pleased to help you.
Contact information:
Anders Hill at PDM Neptec: Telephone: +44 (0)1420 85848
Specialist Skills
The scope of PDM's engineering activities has grown over the years to include many specialisations. These skills have been developed by our experienced team of engineers, often in conjunction with a client for a particularly demanding project. Examples of this work are:- Developing elastomers with particular properties (e.g. Acoustic)
- Incorporating cathodic protection into designs.
- Developing low magnetic signature equipment (Newsletter - Winter 2000/1)
- Developing underwater assemblies which meet CE requirements.
A recent project, the Dualtrack System for TSS, involved the production of complex harness assemblies to meet two specific regulations:
- LVD - The low voltage directive.
- EMC - electromagnetic compatibility requirements.
To ensure the LVD requirements were met the connector pins had to be specially designed to TSS specifications with, for example, a longer earth pin on the power harness connectors, to ensure earth continuity prior to power-up.
Maintaining screen performance through complex 'Y' moulds was also particularly challenging for the design team. Once the concept had been developed, the assembly process had to be radically re-worked to achieve the desired objective.
The harness assemblies are major components
for the TSS Dualtrack System and their performance and reliability are critical.
The system detects and tracks the presence of passive and active underwater
and buried cables. It uses pulse induction and AC tone detection techniques
to provide comprehensive survey data. For more information on the system
please see the TSS website at
http://www.tss-realworld.com.
PDM will be pleased to consider any special underwater projects - particularly
those where it can exercise its experience and skill base to achieve client
satisfaction. Please contact Ian Doble for more information on these topics
or to discuss your requirements.